New Girl: both me, and the series

Aaaaaaah. The sudden realisation that you've abandoned your blog for the past forever. Okay, so it's been 6 days. But it certainly does feel a whole lot longer. I'm not ignoring you, I promise. Indeed I am in fact using the cliché it's not you, it's me but, it this time it really is me. 

I am happy to announce that through hard work, and a whole lot of emails and calls I have managed to land myself summer work. Yipee. I'm working for Kent County Council, and my role is effectively an administration assistant. It's exciting stuff, and I'm gaining so many new skills and experiences which will all help by the time I graduate and look to start my career. So as of late, with much of my time spent travelling to and from work and indeed being at work, I have found I have little time in the evenings to sit down to write. I'm here now though, and that's all that counts right?

So I climb into bed hoping and praying that something worth while will be on digital TV, which we all know is pretty futile in fulfilling that role 99.9% of the time, and low and behold it appears someone has answered my prayers. The new series of New Girl has started and it already feels like the last series finished only yesterday. It's such easy, cohesive viewing and perfect in the sense that you don't need to watch every episode to know the storyline. So long as you know the character names, you'll pretty much pick up on what's happening regardless of what episode you watch. It's no Lost, put it that way. 

Ever since the first series aired, I sense the vibe the producers were going for is a modern-day, twenty-first century Friends. The whole apartment sharing, the will they won't they Ross and Rachel type of scenario, the character types - think pretty one, goof, unemployed, the loveable one. Pretty much the recipe for a perfect sitcom. Friends enjoyed a lengthy period of popularity, and in light of the mixed reviews New Girl has received over this side of the pond I'm not saying it's quite on par just yet, but it's early days... and hey, I only want to watch something easy going to relax from a hard day's work!

I heart Lana Del Rey

I've never really paid much attention to music. Don't get me wrong - I listen to it obviously, but if someone asks me who my favourite artist is, I simply stumble. How on earth, out of every musician in the world can you have a single favourite? That's my thinking. But I have to admit, I've been more than a little bit hooked on this one album since early March now. And it's June 16th. So I guess I've started a love affair with Lana Del Rey's album, Born to Die. Anyone who claims to dislike it, well I say you just haven't listened to it enough. Lana has this really unique and appealing voice, it's as if she drags me into the stories she sings and I'm gone. 

Not only am I hooked on the album, I think I might have developed a girl crush on her. It's hard to explain why I like her so much. I would compare her to Zooey Deschanel's character Summer in (500) Days of Summer. Effortless, insouciant and cool. It's like she doesn't even try, she just naturally pulls off every look she tries. The type of girl most girls like to hate because of that very fact. And to top it all off she is Mulberry's newest muse, alongside Alexa Chung. Not many people get a bag named after them so early on in their careers, so I guess if you have always dreamed of that very scenario, then she could be an inspiration to you. 

My favourite song off of the album is Million Dollar Man. The lyrics are b-eautiful.  Unfortunately she is yet to make a music video for this, but here is her singing it live... Even better! Enjoy!

Why I will always love (500) Days of Summer.

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.

(500) Days of Summer is one of my favourite films. I watch it when I'm happy, I watch it when I'm sad, I watch it whenever. The best thing about my favourite films is that I can watch them time and time again, knowing full well the ending, but anticipating a different one each time. I think that may just be the key to a successful film; they have the power to allow one person to think they can change the outcome of the story. What I love so much about (500) Days of Summer is the storyline. I admire Zooey Deschanel's character because she encapsulates the position, stereotypically speaking, men adopt. The I'm-not-looking-for-anything-serious stance, in which it's normally the female whom gets attached and ends up heartbroken. Isn't it so refreshing, girls, to see the man upset? As unkind as it sounds, it is nice to know boys hurt too. 

Together Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt effortlessly create the perfect modern-day 'alternative' couple. Deschanel is the nonchalant female with a cold, yet intriguing, take on love and relationships. Perhaps what is most intriguing about her character is the ability to appear so closed off, emotionally speaking. At crucial moments in the film that warrant emotion, guilt or even tears Summer (Deschanel) maintains a calm daze that would unsettle even the most experienced dater. In heavy contrast Gordon-Levitt is the hopeless romantic spending his life waiting to meet 'the one'. It's clear to see that their oxymoronic characters were destined for distaster, yet this painful side to romance occurs time and time again in reality. In this sense one could question why we believe the apparent wise person who once told us that "opposites attract". 

I don't know anybody who couldn't relate to the Expectations/Reality scene. I find myself squirming, just wanting to change the course of action so that Gordon-Levitt's expectations are met. Instead, against our will, we are inflicted to adopt the role of a voyeur seeing every inch of Gordon-Levitt's pain and heartbreak. This scene holds every possibility of realism and believability and I believe it's scenes like this that make the film so relatable.

Perhaps unrealistically so Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt both live in somewhat spacey New York apartments, given that they work in a greetings card firm in what appears to be the lower level jobs. This aspect however happens in most programmes or films, take Friends for example. Well, it just wouldn't be any fun watching them couped up in a broom cupboard sized apartment struggling to pay rent every episode, now would it? 

This single annoyance aside, (500) Days of Summer remains to be one of my favourite films. If you're yet to watch it, then it's safe to say you're definitely missing out.